John Shumaker was the first UT system president to maintain an office in Nashville. UT had previously maintained a small legislative relations office in Nashville (at an annual cost of $14,000) but gave that up and rented 3,500 square feet of new office space near the Capitol Building, including a private office for Shumaker. The offices were used by UT Executive Vice President Steve Leonard, his assistant Connie Cantrell, and Paige Kisber, office manager and coordinator of special events, as well as Shumaker, when he was in Nashville, and other university officials. The UT Foundation provided $49,000 in addition to the $14,000 previously paid for office space, making the total office budget $63,000. There was substantial criticism in the press and by legislators about UT’s rental of new office space and provision of a Nashville office for the president.
On August 23, 2003, following Shumaker’s resignation on August 8, Emerson (Eli) Fly, president of the UT Foundation, announced that the foundation had given 90 days’ notice of its intent to cancel the $5,266-per-month lease of space but would continue to maintain a suite of offices about a block away from the capitol and another in an office complex outside downtown.